Ruud Kleinpaste: Plagues of skinks

<p>In our old Auckland garden we used be surrounded by so-called <strong>rainbow skinks.</strong></p> <p>They were everywhere and… what a cool name!</p> <p>The best way to describe them: a small grey-brown skink with a dark brown, lateral stripe along the body. When they are sun bathing it is easy to find a spectacular rainbow-coloured sheen on their scales.</p> <p>I quickly learned these fascinating and quite pretty animals are actually Australian interlopers, arriving here in the 1960s.</p> <p>Common in the North Island, especially in the northern half: Northland to Waikato with populations in New Plymouth, Hawkes Bay, Whanganui, Palmerston North and Wellington.</p> <p>There are a few records from Blenheim too.</p> <p>I was hoping they were not in the South Island – but they are…  They can easily live here too – In Tasmania they’re well-established.</p> <p>Impact: They are numerous and aggressive; accused of eating our native invertebrates and ousting our timid native skink species through competition for space, habitat and food.</p> <p>Our native skinks are already under pressure from cats and stoats and weasels, so this exotic Aussie skink is likely to add some more pressure.</p> <p>They are classed as “invasive”, here in New Zealand and if we look at their track record in Hawaii (established there since early 1900s), I would not be surprised if these skinks are having an impact on our herpetological fauna and perhaps other <strong>delicate</strong> ecological balances.</p> <p>Isn’t it ironic that this skink’s scientific name is <em>Lampropholis delicata</em><em>?</em></p> <p>Scientists and Biosecurity creatives have re-named that “rainbow skink” to “<strong>plague</strong> skink”;</p> <p>Our best approach is to be aware of them and learn to tell them apart from our native skinks</p> <p>Identifying them from native species is not <em>that</em> easy: you’ve got to look at them up-close and focus on the top of their head; Right in the centre of the head – right on top and between the eyes – is a <s